Startup Systems

systems that power startups

Think about how different an accounting software for tattoo shops would look compared to Quickbooks.

Or how you could integrate pool-party motifs into a CRM for pool cleaners.

All of which would set your brand apart from the get-go and take you from being one of many to being the one and only.

B2B SaaS doesn’t have to be boring and you can create an... See more

Superhuman

From Tiago Forte of Building A Second Brain-- We have spent most of our lives in the Attention Era. Our attention today is clearly the most scarce, valuable resource we have, which means we feel the need to capitalize on every bit of attention available, which often means filling almost every minute of the day with information consumption. Even

The first thing to do when thinking about starting a project, before you invest in systems design, infrastructure or fancy tools, is to practice getting some customers. And the second thing to do is to find out what it’s like to delight or disappoint those customers.

Customer traction is just about the only thing all successful organizations have in... See more

Choose your customers

What sort of bicycle?

seths.blog

Little decisions compound and then anchor systems.

Our commitment to defending sunk costs keeps those systems long after they’re no longer serving a purpose.

The median bootstrapped B2B SaaS company currently spends around 90% of its annual recurring revenue on costs—25% on go-to-market strategy and execution, 24% on research and development, 15% on administrative and miscellaneous expenses, 13% on website hosting and implementation, and 10% on customer retention. Each of these categories of cost is now... See more

Will Manidis • Asset-light Software Businesses: The New Paradigm for Startups

On the evolving spend of startups

A startup’s biggest competition isn’t an established player, it’s inertia.

The 100 Best Bits of Advice From 10 Years of First Round Review

At a big company, you're trained to get it right and get it out. You can’t risk experimenting on your customer base. When you're at a small company, you don't have any product-market fit, so you have to get it out, then get it right.

How to Scale Yourself Down

The result is a meta-market: because founders know what playbook their competition is running, they end up positioning themselves against moves their competitors will make in three years. Let’s say I run a newsletter software company, similar to Substack or Beehiiv. Since each company has a unique starting point, we’ll each have relative strengths.... See more

Evan Armstrong • Every Software Business Has the Same Playbook

Certainty - Making your customers feel secure about the quality and longevity of your product reduces the fear of disappointment or the need to frequently replace the item.

Variety - Owning items that introduce a sense of novelty to a person's life satisfies their need for variety and can make them feel more excited.

Significance - Owning something... See more

Superhuman

On purchasing higher end products